Book News

The Chester County Library is holding it second annual Summer Reading for Adults program through Aug. 18. Participants are invited to share love of reading with the community.

1. Read a book. 2. Make a comment.

3. Would you recommend it to a friend?

Earn a chance to win a gift card each time you read a book (up to 25 books) and record it in your Summer Reading account. The prize drawing will be on Aug. 20. This year we will be giving away 10 $25 VISA gift cards as prizes and for the Grand Prize Winner, an iPad Mini.

Registering for the program and recording your books will be online. Visit www.ccls.org/ccl and click on the link for Summer Reading for Adults. If you need assistance with registration, please see the Reference or Multimedia staff at the Chester County Library.

The Chester County Library is located at 450 Exton Square Parkway, Exton.

Adrian Morrison, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and a resident of Kennett Square, recently published “Brandywine Boy,” Morrison’s memoir of growing up in the Brandywine Valley.

Comprised of 11 chapters with illustrations by Gayle Joseph, an executive assistant at Penn Vet, the book chronicles in Morrison’s adventures growing up in a postwar, changing rural environment. Though the writing project started out as a simple recording of stories for his family to enjoy, he now hopes others may be charmed by and learn from his tales. “It’s a memoir, a history, a social history of some early Civil Rights happenings, and it has some science in there too,” says Morrison.

Morrison self-published his book with assistance from CreateSpace on Feb. 11. It is available on Amazon at tinyurl.com/brandywineboy.

Ray Schneider, a 35-year resident of Chester County, has published a book - “Spunky, Memoirs of a 1940’s Kid.” It is an anecdotal biography/journal of his childhood during and after WWII in the eastern coal region of Pennsylvania - New Philadelphia, Schuylkill County. He will have a book signing at the Exton Library on July 25 at 7 p.m. in the Struble Room.

A German Language Playgroup meets the first Friday of each month at Paoli Library, 18 Darby Road, Paoli, from 10:30-11:30 a.m. The group, for ages 5 and under accompanied by an adult, enjoys stories, songs and sing-alongs—all in German. Please register by email: Beverly Michaels at bmichaels@ccls.org. For more information, call the library at 610-296-7996.

The Mystery Book Club meets at Paoli Library on the first Monday of each month at 10:30 a.m. Participants are asked to read a book on the theme and join the group in discussion. Suggested authors: Janet Evanovich, Alexander McCall Smith, Alan Orloff, Donna Andrews, Spencer Quinn.

The library is located at 18 Darby Road. For information, visit tredyffrinlibraries.org or call 610-296-7996.

The Bayard Taylor Library in Kennett Square holds an evening book group. Book group meets the last Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. Copies of the book are available at the library. For more information or to register, call 610-444-2702 or email Donna at dmurray@ccls.org.

The Chester County Library, Exton, conducts two book discussion groups.

The Afternoon Book Discussion Group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the library. The book to be discusses on July 17 is “The Kitchen House” by Kathleen Grissom. The book to be discussed on Aug. 21 is “ The Historian” by Elizabeth Kostova

The Evening Book Discussion group meets on the first Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m. The book to be discusses on Aug. 5 is “The Space Between Us” by Thirty Umrigar.

For information about either group, call 610-280-2600.

The Parkesburg Library holds a variety of activities:

Adult Book Discussion – first Monday of each month, 7-7:45 p.m.

Poetry Group -- Read and discuss poetry. Meets every third Saturday at 10 a.m. in Westminster Place Community Room, 320 W. 1st Ave., Parkesburg. Call Jeffrey Bullock at 484-321-1630 for more info.

American Girl Club - Meets second Friday of the month, 4:30-5:30. New members welcome. No need to bring anything, but if you have dolls of any kind they are welcome. Register at the circulation desk.

The library is located at 105 West St., Parkesburg. Call 610-857-5165

The Henrietta Hankin Branch Library will be holding its Hawaiian Summer Book Club read on Wednesday, July 31, 6:30 p.m.The book selection for this program is Moloka’i by Alan Brennert.Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’I, when a rose-colored mark appears on her skin. Here her life is supposed to end – but instead she discovers it is only just the beginning. Moloka’I is the true-to-life chronicle of a people who embraced life in the face of death. No registration required.

The library is holding Adult Book Bingo on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at 10:30 am. When you win at Bingo, you select a book from a collection that includes some recent titles and some ‘golden oldies’. This program is free and open to the public. No registration is required. This event is meant for people 18 years of age and older. For more information, contact the Hankin Reference Desk at 610-321-1710. The programs are free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged. Go to www.ccls.org/hankin and view the calendar to register or contact the Hankin Reference Desk at 610-321-1710.

The Henrietta Hankin Branch Library will hold a Mystery Book Club on the third Thursday of each month at 1 p.m. The book club will read a variety of titles in the mystery, thriller or suspense genre. As a fledgling group, the members will decide which books to read and the format of the discussions. This program is free and open to the public. No registration is required. For more information, contact the Hankin Reference Desk at 610-321-1710

The Henrietta Hankin Branch Library is located just east of the intersection of routes 401 and 100 at 215 Windgate Drive in West Vincent.

Chester County residents have a new opportunity to learn about what they can do to help the environment. Chester County Library has started a new book discussion club that is dedicated solely to reading and discussing books about conservation and environmentalism.

Registration is required for this program and seating is limited to 20. Go to www.ccls.org and click on “Find an Event” to register or call 610-280-2642 for more information.

Check out the Chester County Library System blogs through the Community Media Lab at www.dailylocal.com.